Norwich heroin dealer gets five years in plea deal

NEW LONDON — A Norwich man was so addicted to heroin that he was using nearly 100 bags of it a day and selling it to support his habit, according to authorities.

Matthew Blacha, 40, was sentenced Wednesday in New London Superior Court to five years in prison on charges of selling heroin and illegally possessing guns. He agreed to a plea deal in August that carried a maximum six-year prison sentence.

“I took a year off (your sentence),” Judge Susan Handy, who sentenced Blacha, told him. “Why did I take a year off? Because I think you’re on the right track.”

Blacha has a long criminal record, with more than 30 arrests and multiple convictions. In addition, Assistant State’s Attorney Paul Narducci said, “he has been to virtually every (substance-abuse rehabilitation) program in the state of Connecticut.”

Blacha was arrested Jan. 30 by Norwich police. Police said they found 78 bags of heroin in his pocket, another 200 bags of heroin and 47 Methadone tablets in his house, and a shotgun and a 9 mm Glock pistol. As a convicted felon, Blacha is not allowed to have guns.

When she sentenced Blacha, Handy also ordered about $20,000 in cash police found in the arrest to be seized as proceeds from selling drugs. She also ordered the ownership of Blacha’s pickup truck to be turned over to Norwich police, because drugs were allegedly sold out of it.